White Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen






INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup chopped (¼- inch pieces) good quality white chocolate

DIRECTIONS:
1. Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, shortening, and brown sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl when necessary. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until just combined.
4. With mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in two batches, beating until just combined. Stir in the white chocolate by hand.
5. Each cookie should be 2 tablespoons of dough. Place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through, until slightly golden brown around the edges, about 14 minutes. Cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the sheets and then transfer to wire racks. Cookies will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container.

***Tear up a piece of sliced bread and place in the cookie jar or container that you are keeping these cookies. The bread will help the cookies maintain a just-baked chewiness.
**White chocolate is not truly chocolate because it does not contain chocolate liquor. *White chocolate was first introduced in 1956 and, since then, the U.S. has regulated what can be marketed as “white chocolate”. White chocolate in the U.S. must contain at least 20% cocoa butter by weight. Other ingredients in this confection include sugar and milk solids – don’t ask me what those milk solids are.

Recipe by Cristina Paul